Our Foundation

Jesus taught that his word is the foundation of our life, saying “everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24, CSB). But generations of Christians have wrestled with what that means ever since. Some have believed that Scripture stands as its own highest authority, seeking to let the Bible interpret itself through careful attention to its grammar, history, and canonical context. Others have understood Scripture as being faithfully preserved, interpreted, and guarded by the Church, making the Church the final authority in matters of interpretation. Still others have emphasized the active work of the Holy Spirit in guiding believers—both individually and corporately—to rightly hear and apply God’s word.

I think there’s some truth in all of the above and each view is strongest when it is restrained by the others.

I believe that Scripture is inherently authoritative and is meant to be interpreted through itself. The Holy Spirit moved on holy men of old to inspire the message given and moves now to empower the word of God to pierce our hearts, generate faith, and enliven our souls. This conviction rightly guards the Church from placing any authority above God’s word and insists that every teaching be tested against what has been written. Yet Scripture was given to particular people in particular times, languages, and circumstances. The work of faithfully carrying God’s word from their world into ours is neither automatic nor simple. When these difficulties are ignored, interpretation hardens into reckless confidence—treating one’s own reading as self-evident and unquestionable. But when this work is avoided altogether, Scripture is reduced to a static artifact, and Jesus’ living way is surrendered to the cold taskmaster of inherited formulas and religious habit.

I also believe the Church has played a role in faithfully preserving, interpreting, and guarding Scripture. Godly men wrestled with the word and had their faith proven through various trials and demonstrations of the Holy Spirit in their lives. But they did so as flawed men living within their own limited contexts. So it’s folly both to completely ignore or blindly accept the historic teachings of the Church. To ignore them is to miss the work of the Spirit in their life. To blindly accept them is to unquestionably shackle your own life with their errors and limitations.

And I believe the Holy Spirit actively works in our lives to guide us, both individually and corporately, in God’s word. He empowers Scripture to pierce the depths of our soul to convict, transform, and inspire living obedience from the heart in ways that no method or tradition can accomplish on its own. Without the Spirit’s present work, the Bible may be studied endlessly and yet never truly heard. But the Spirit’s guidance is given via our relationship with him in an intimate and personal way, not mechanically or religiously. His leading comes from a gentle voice, forming Christ within each believer rather than coercively imposing uniform conclusions on everyone. The journey one person must take as Christ is formed in them cannot be imposed on another. So, for this reason, the Spirit’s leading must be held with humility so that our personal convictions, which are tailored to our life, are not elevated to universal commands imposed on others.

God’s word is the foundation of Christian life, but it wasn’t ever intended to float free from either the people of God or the Spirit of God. Scripture is authoritative because in it God spoke. But the Church matters because in it the authority of God is received, believed, and obeyed within a living community. And the Holy Spirit’s guidance is essential because God’s word is personal to us. These are not rival authorities competing for control, but distinct gifts ordered toward a single end: that the people of God might be formed into the likeness of Christ. When Scripture is isolated, it hardens into abstraction. When the Church is isolated, it calcifies into tradition. When personal spiritual leading is isolated, it fragments into subjectivity. But when Scripture governs, the Church remembers, and the Spirit enlivens, God’s word becomes what Jesus intended it to be: the solid ground upon which a faithful life is built.